Faith in Jesus is not commitment to your church or denomination. I believe in the local church; I am not a tabernacle man. I believe in the divine assembly. We ought to realize that we are, as a group of Christians, a divine assembly, a cell in the body of Christ, alive with His life. But not for one second would I try to create in you a faith that would lead you to commit yourself irrevocably to a local church or to your church leaders. You are not asked to follow your church leaders. You are not asked like a little robin on the nest to open your innocent little mouth and just take anything I put in. If what I put in is not biblical food, regurgitate and do not be afraid to do it. Call me or come see me or write me an anonymous letter. But do something about it. Do not, by any means, swallow what your leaders give you. Here is the book, the Bible; go to it. Faith is faith in Jesus Christ, God”s Son. It is total faith in Christ and not in a denomination or church, though you may love the church and respect and love your leaders and your denomination. But your commitment is to Christ.
A. W. Tozer Sermon: The Danger of Mis-placed Commitment

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A friend shared this interview with me, and it’s well worth the read. And taking on board. And adopting.

This is an absolutely incredible short interview with *Rick Warren,* *’Purpose Driven Life’* author and Pastor of *Saddleback Church in California.*

–In the interview by *Paul Bradshaw* with *Rick Warren,* Rick said:
*–People ask me, What is the purpose of life?*

*–And I respond:*
In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.

–One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the *end of my body*– but not the *end of me.*

–I may live *60 to 100 years on earth*, but I am going to spend *trillions of years in eternity.*
This is the warm-up act –the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity..

–We were made by *God and for God*, and until you figure that out, life isn’t going to *make sense.*

–Life is a series of problems:
*Either you are in one now,* OR *you’re just coming out of one,* OR *you’re getting ready to go into another one.*

–The reason for this is that *God is more interested* in *your character* than *your comfort;* God is more interested in making *your life holy* than He is in making *your life happy.*

–We can be *reasonably happy* here on earth, but that’s not *the goal of life.* The goal is to grow in *character, in Christ likeness.*

–No matter how *good* things are in your life, there is always something *bad* that *needs to be worked on.*

–And no matter how *bad* things are in your life, there is always something *good* you can *thank God* for.

–You can focus on *your purposes*, or you can focus on *your problems:*

–If you focus on your problems, you’re going into *self-centeredness*, which is my problem, my issues, my pain. *But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.*

–Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder.
For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

–It also brought a lot of *notoriety* that I had never had to deal with before.
I don’t think God gives you *money* or *notoriety* for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

–So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence.
He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, *II Corinthians 9* and *Psalm 72.*

–First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.

–Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

–Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call *The Peace Plan* to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

–Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

–We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity?

–Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God’s purposes (for my life)?

–When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don’t get anything else done today, *I want to know You more and love You better.*

God didn’t put me on earth just to fulfill *a to-do list.* He’s more interested in *what I am* than *what I do.*

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Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying.